Sun
It is everyday, normal, although without it we could not live. We complain if it sounds hard, but we miss it if it stays long behind the clouds. We love the colorful games you use to fire at dawn and in the afternoon. And it fascinates us when it hides us behind the Moon and gives us eclipses. Then, it is impossible to escape its magnetism.
The sun is magnetic and the sun, the star, the star is magnetic. "Magnetism is the hallmark of the Sun," says astronomer Iñigo Arregi in the introduction of the main story we have dedicated to the star. In fact, accounts of the magnetic field extending from the heart of the Sun to Earth and beyond guide a journey through tens and a half pages. Visible but non-existent surface, cycle of 11 years, spots and tornadoes, particles that reach an unimaginable temperature, solar wind and time of space; all are phenomena dependent on the solar magnetic field, which astronomers understand to some extent, but which continue to give for many outstanding questions.
The importance of understanding the Sun well and its dynamics can be considered as the existence of so many missions observing in one way or another. About a dozen and at least two underway. They are missions to find answers to questions and practices: Astronomers hope they will serve to understand the solar wind that so affects the Earth, and specifically the satellites, and develop tools to predict space time.
One of these missions, the Solar Probe Plus, aims to approach practically the Sun, just six million kilometers from the visible but absent surface. We have been more prudent and have immersed ourselves in the magnetism of the Sun without moving from Earth.
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